China's People's Congress, meeting in Beijing today, has altered the constitution so that term limits on the presidency have been removed. That means that the current incumbent, Xi Jinping, could become President for Life, if he chooses. The term limit was brought in to avoid anyone becoming a second Mao Zedong, but that increasingly appears [...]
Conservative councillor in Richmond-upon-Thames, Annie Hambidge, was going to stand again for the Conservatives in the 2018 local elections. But instead she's resigned from the councillor after a doorstep confrontation: Former Heathfield Councillor Annie Hambidge was out canvassing and knocked on a resident's door who was not a supporter, according to council leader councillor Paul Hodgins. Cllr Paul Hodgins, said: "By all accounts, the discussion escalated into an intense disagreement, during which two things were said that I feel were culturally insensitive... "As a result, Cllr Hambidge offered and I accepted her resignation." [Richmond and Twickenham Times] Hambidge has since ...
Sun 11th
20:32
Liberal Democrats vote for councils to be given the power to increase tax on second homes
At Liberal Democrat spring conference in Southport today, members passed a motion which calls for Local Authorities to be given the power to increase council tax on second homes by up to 500%. Data from the Rural Services Network has estimated that across mainly rural areas, an average of 2.5% of properties are second homes. This figure substantially rises in some areas: in the Isles of Scilly over 15% of properties are second homes, with nearly 9% in South Hams, and 10% in some parts of Norfolk. To deal with the huge pressures this can put on local communities and ...
A simple little efficiency tip: the autocorrect feature that comes with most smartphones and email programs is designed to turn a mistake such as teh into the. But it can do so much more. The post Campaign top tip: set your autocorrection to whole phrases appeared first on Mark Pack.
It's 11 days since my first chemotherapy cycle and I feel as if I'm making progress. The last week has been characterised by long periods of total fatigue and feeling unwell. However, sometime around 1am on Saturday morning I woke up feeling as if I'd had a massive energy boost. I wasn't able to get back to sleep for a ... The post Progress appeared first on ten pence piece.
No chapter divisions, so here is the third paragraph: From Pliny's statement it would appear that it was long before regularly educated physicians obtained a footing in Rome(b). The practice of medicine was, probably, for 600 years in the hands of quacks and casual practitioners. This was partly owing to the simple and active life led by the Romans. " A science, the offspring of luxury and of depravity, with difficulty found access to a nation, all whose members, from the chiefs to the lowest in the state, were warriors, enured to fatigue, or hardy cultivators of the soil."(a) " ...
These words were typed on a thin sheet of paper in my grandfather's wallet when he passed away in the late 1960s. He spent the early part of his life in a hotel, run by his family. A licensee must be a democrat, an autocrat, acrobat, a doormat. He must be able to entertain Prime ... Continue reading What a licensee must be...
It is said that Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) never saw the planet Mercury in his lifetime, though this seems to be a misunderstanding. Until last week, I had never knowingly seen it either. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, and zips around once in every 88 days. Its orbit is distinctly eccentric - its closest point to the Sun is 0.32 Astronomical Units, its farthest point is 0.48 AU, from less than a third of Earth's average distance from the Sun to almost half. The orbit is also tilted in such a way that it's only really well oriented ...
Rounding off the Southport conference which saw the party adopted a new strategy, Lib Dem leader Vince Cable took a swing at Jeremy Corbyn (a life-long Eurosceptic) for talking about workers but supporting a Brexit which will hit workers: Jeremy Corbyn is letting down the very people he claims to defend because: You cannot speak up for the poor and be complicit in making the country poorer. You cannot claim to love the NHS knowing that Brexit will starve it of cash. You cannot be an advocate of strong rights at work, and stand by while your country walks away ...
Here is Vince's speech in full. It's good to be back in Southport. I was last here in October. It was pouring with rain. The local party was licking its wounds after a difficult General Election... ...and there was a challenging council by-election to fight. But a week later our candidate, and former MP, John Pugh, was swept on to Sefton Council with a big majority, and more than half of the votes cast. Congratulations John! Shortly after my trip here, I went to the North East. I took in Newcastle, of course. It's a former council stronghold with a ...
Phew. This morning Liberal Democrat conference voted to adopt the party's proposed new strategy (with one amendment regarding working with other parties): It's still not even 10am and we've already tried to refer a motion back – I love Lib Dem conference #LDConf — Alisha Lewis (@Alishaclewis) March 11, 2018 The post Liberal Democrats adopt new strategy appeared first on Mark Pack.
Sat, 12:56: RT @JimBliss23: Boris Johnson's speech about "minimal border controls" in Ireland is a damning demonstration that even after all this time... Sat, 15:17: Hugo nominations: the Doctor Who novelisations and the Worldcon 75 Helsinki restaurant guide https://t.co/USWovkxTfF Sat, 16:05: The Conservative party is engaging in dangerous fantasies about how to win the next election https://t.co/aAHLbXAuTs Sensible comment. Sat, 17:56: RT @worldcon75: Nominations for the 2018 Hugos and 1943 Retro Hugos end 11:59pm PDT Fri 16/3/2018 (6:59am UTC Sat, 17/3/2018 W75 can nomin... Sat, 18:56: RT @Paul_Cornell: I tell you what, like @nwbrux just suggested, for @TheHugoAwards nominators: the ...
This is the title track from a 1968 album that was an early essay in prog rock - one of the tracks was 17 minutes long. Don't panic, this one is only three and a half minutes long and still sounds good. Now listen to Pandora's Box by Procul Harum.
The row over the list of powers the UK Government plan to 'temporarily retain' following Brexit is a rather dry discourse which is unlikely to create any ripples in the pub on a Saturday night, but it is important nevertheless because whatever the Brexit referendum gave the UK Government authority for, it did not give them carte blanche to roll back the devolution settlement. Part of the problem of course is that devolution has not delivered all that was expected of it. The Welsh NHS is in crisis (as of course is its counterpart over the border in England), our ...
There's a new opportunity to take part in some riverbank based wellbeing activities starting March 2018 in the Yate/Chipping Sodbury area:Sessions are freeSessions are for over 18sSessions will be in the Yate/Chipping Sodbury areaSessions will last 2.5 hours and probably be Thursday or Friday afternoons (maybe 1-3.30)Activities will be linked to conservation and include river clearance, wildlife monitoring, litter clearance along with nature talks and lots of time to just enjoy the space and share a hot drink.Sessions will run for 6 weeks with 2 prior to Easter and 4 afterSupport with transport can be provided if an issueIdeally they ...
The Guardian has the story on its web site – see link above This is an interesting and informative piece from Adam Vaughan and well worth taking the time to read it. I recently came across a clear map showing the boundaries of the Fracking area closest to our part of the world – The License is to Aurora Energy Resources and it's number is PEDL 164. Here's the map:- As you can see the majority of the seismic survey area is within West Lancashire (the thick pale yellow line is the Sefton/West Lancs boundary) but the much wider ...
Vince has a couple of jobs in his keynote speech today. First of all, he has to continue to stake our claim to be the Party that wants to stop Brexit. The Party is stepping up its anti-Brexit rhetoric. Tom Brake explicitly told Conference yesterday that Brexit was such a disaster for the Country that we would be doing all we could to ensure that people got a say on the final deal. Catherine Bearder MEP said that "the Emperor is stark naked." But that is only half the story. This Conference has made some key proposals on other issues ...
There was shock late yesterday afternoon when Conference referred back the new disciplinary proposals brought forward by the Federal Board as a result of the Macdonald Review. The new process had been developed by Ken Macdonald, a former Director of Public Prosecutions and was designed to be independent of the state parties. The current system is clearly not fit for purpose, at least at English Party level. Complainants tell of long delays- one woman described a 13 month to have her complaints sexual harassment dealt with – and unsatisfactory results. Conference decided by just two votes to refer the matter ...
[IMG: Motherhood in Precarious Times] Mother's Day is a subjective experience. Some of us will start the day with breakfast in bed, others will be taken to lunch followed by a leisurely afternoon and some will struggle through the day.... The post Motherhood in Precarious Times appeared first on FeministMama @ambitiousmamas.
